Jeffk15 has left 4 comments

Jeffk15 comments on Search: Realtors in Santa Marta

Also Buying in Santa Marta I'm trying to purchase in Santa Marta also, if you could PM me any info you have on realtors also, I would greatly appreciate it.

Jeffk15 comments on Opening Bank Account in Colombia

HARD Time I moved to colombia, purchased a really nice home, a business..AND I had a cedula.
Went to citibank (my acct. with CitiBank in U.S for 12 years), in Bogota..Waited 1 month...AND THEY STILL SAID NO!!!

I'v had my colombian visa for almost 4 years, and my resident visa for 1 year...

I tried all the big banks, but still received "no's". Finally I went through some frinds here in bogota, who had friends the the bank. And with their help, plus tons of documents, I was finally able to get a bank checking acount, and savings account. BUT, the one thing they won't give me is a credit card...(even though I already have a few from the states.

Jeffk15 comments on You dropped everything and relocated to Colombia

Life is Good Well I sold off everything I had a year ago,came to Bogota. purchased a home, bar/restaurant..... I'm loving IT!!!

Jeffk15 comments on Can an American own a house in Colombia?

No problem buying properties in Bogota Just found this site, it's a great asset...!

I have a Colombian wife, for about 3 years now. I have been going back and forth to Colombia since 1999. Last August when I was there I noticied a huge upswing in the area of new housing construction. My wife and I went looking around, and almost everywhere we went, they were sold-out (Before they even broke ground on the projects). After seeing all this, my wife and I went back to a place to purchase a home we both really loved. The day before, when we were there, it was their first day open, the next day we were there they had already sold 60% of the homes. I paid 165,000,000 for the home, and it has many (american features). It is located in the northern end of Bogota in an area called Las Colinas. That same day we also went and purchased her parents a home for 45,000,000. That may seem cheap, but it was a well equipped home with many options.

As for the sale, I just showed them my cedula (Previously I went and obtained and Temporary Resident VISA). Since there was no financing to worry about, all we had to do was pay some small monthly fee on each unit for 11 months, and then on the 12th month, pay the remaining final balance at the closing. BTY, these were new construction homes, which is why it took so long.

Also, for the bank account (checking), It really wasn't to hard. I just provided them with my VISA, house purchase contracts, and 2 letters of reference for individuals who already had checking accounts there. After that I had to wait 7 days for the bank to get authorization from the US embassy folks.( You are checked to make sure you are not on some suspected drug dealer list, or that you have any open federal US warrants against you).